Revelation6:9-11
Just a reminder... We are in the second act: the suffering church (4:1-8:1) John in the control room of heaven. Creation represented in the creatures and the throne is central. Worship features very strongly. The suffering of the church throughout history is explored and there are Seven Seals that are opened.
Suffering has been placed in perspective as we see that it is no-one less than the Lamb of God who opens the seals that represent suffering. We've already seen the horsemen of conflict, chaos, plague and famine each unleashed by an opened seal and now as the fifth seal is opened, we come face to face with the persecution of the church.
We tend to think that the persecution of the church is something that belongs to history, but the facts tell us that more Christians have been killed for their faith in the last 100 years than in the 1900 that came before. Today in North Africa and some other countries people take huge risks by becoming people of faith.
It's hard to think that God allows His church to be persecuted. In order to take the gospel into the corners of the world, the message must go even where it is not welcomed. In these unwelcoming corners, God's people pay a great price to live out the good news.
They are depicted as being in a privileged position - under the altar because their sacrifices are aligned to what Christ has done for us. In faith they cry out "How long?" and are given a white robe and encouraged to wait and endure.
The white robes represent blessedness, purity and belonging.
Persecution is a tough reality of the life of the church. It is OK for us to cry out "How Long?"
God doesn't always rescue us from persecution, but those who are persecuted are placed under the altar: They are very close to Jesus. They are robed in white because their suffering has brought them to a place of close dependence on God.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
